The low-frequency shelf is gentle and great for adding depth to pretty much anything, including full mixes. The Enhanced EQ's high-frequency band imbues the top end with great sweetness, and with its narrowest setting being quite broad, even a total novice would struggle to mess things up with it. Putting the EQs through their paces reveals exactly the sorts of sounds you'd expect from Pultec-style processing - in fact, switching these plugins in feels good even when they're flat. These range from typical Pultec-type jobs (bass, kick, snare, guitars) for the Enhanced EQ to mastering bus and submix presets for the Passive EQ and Vari Comp. "Although all three plugins are pretty easy to get to grips with, they each include 20 or so task-orientated presets"Īlthough all three plugins are pretty easy to get to grips with, they each include 20 or so task-orientated presets. The inclusion of both input level, threshold and output level makes it easy to saturate the processor circuit. Notable features include the five 'Recovery' (or release) settings, individual dry level (for parallel compression) and sidechain gain. The Vari Comp looks pretty simple, but is a tad esoteric in its labelling. Rounding things off are high- and low-pass filters. Each can be switched to either bell or shelf, and in the case of the latter, high Q results in an overshoot shape. It features four bands in parallel configuration with notched frequencies and sweepable bandwidth. This basic EQ design is then super-sized into the Passive EQ, which looks suspiciously like Manley's revered Massive Passive. Much like the Manley hardware version, the low-band frequencies of NI's Enhanced EQ differ slightly from a real Pultec unit. It appears to be based on the Manley Enhanced Pultec EQP-1A, which itself is Manley's interpretation of the classic original Pultec units built by Pulse Technologies. This 3-band passive EQ design includes low shelf, high bell and high cut, and all frequencies are notched. How about EQ? Boost the bass before compression for a rhythmic pumping effect that can sound great for kick-driven music such as house or techno, or after for 'clean' bass boost without affecting the compressor's action.In case you're not familiar with the hardware these plugins emulate, we should sum up the main features. For example, reverb placed before compression can give a source sound that 'compressed room mics' sound, whereas placing the reverb after the compression will give a less 'reactive', studio-style sound, since the reverb itself won't be compressed. The order in which other effects are placed can also make a huge difference to the results. This can be very useful in a mastering or precision mixing scenario, where you need something to sound like it hasn't been processed at all! For instance, instead of one compressor performing 4dB of gain reduction, you might use two compressors giving 2dB each. Using compressors in series also allows you to spread the workload. By using two complementary units together like this, it's possible to harness the general levelling behaviour and vibe of the first alongside the clinical peak control and clean sound of the second - great for recreating the feel of outboard gear 'in the box' while retaining the precision that modern processors are known for. A practical example would be using a slow acting compressor such as Native Instruments' Vari Comp, which is modelled on a classic valve design, followed by a more modern compressor like an SSL clone or digital compressor with lookahead.
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